Hey guys, I'm a long time lurker and this is probably my only review of any audio gear, while i'm new here, but i have been in this hobby for 15 years now.

Preferences :

I like a warmer than neutral sound with a small kick in the bass, a believable sound-stage, fast transients and I have a very low tolerance for peaky treble. As much as I love detailed sound from my gear, I value musicality, tone and timbre even more.
Preferred Genre of music is - Old school rock ( think dire-straits, AC/DC and Pink floyd) & Jazz

Gears used in this testing :

Roon - Pi2AES - YGGY A1 - Jensen Isomax transformer for Bal to SE conversion - Mogwai SE running KT88 tubes - Focal Utopia/ HD650 / Yamaha HP2 ( modded ) / ZMF Atrium / ZMF Auteur/ Hifiman Edition XS/ Hifiman HE-6 / Hifiman Susvara

Build :
i ' d like to start by saying that i'm not the first owner of this amp and i got it used from a friend back home and i don't think he is the first owner either. So this device has been around the block for a few years and I have been using this for the last year. It is still in great shape, barely any wear and tear. The volume pot is of very high quality and I have had no issues with it being noisy or any tracking issue.

I have legitimately used this amp everyday and have plugged headphones in and out countless times - again the headphone outs are rock solid. I have never had the luxury of owning speakers so the speaker posts to the back were never used.

Right from the wooden chassis to the metal top plate and the transformers have held up very well despite the amps age.

There are also two inputs one that is coupled with a transformer and one that isn't . the inputs can be selected with a switch to the back.. all the impressions are with the transformer coupled input

There are two HP outs as well one 32 ohm tap ( used for this review) and a 300 ohm tap that i use with ZMFs alone

I have the Rev 1. And it has two hp out and a speaker out to the back which can be used as a 8ohm hp out with an adapter. The Rev two comes with 3 hp outs.

So build - built to last the end of days

Support :

Justin Webber from Ampsandsound is an absolute sweetheart. Always ready to help with any queries and tech support. No, I did not know Justin before I got the amp, I started talking to him after and he has always been kind and polite. So in this day and age where even reputed brands find ways to not honor warranty , Justin provides lifetime warranty for his products. So anyone looking to buy these can do so with the utmost confidence that shud the crap hit the fan, he isn't gonna leave u holding the bag.


Sound :

I hesitate to talk about the sound of an AMP in isolation because it's about as useful as tits on a turtle. Synergy is everything. The yggy A1 is a fairly clinical dac that does pretty much everything well but sometimes can get a little bit too intense and “soul-less”. The Mogwai SE, though not the last word in ultimate resolution, has all the soul in the world.

It can be described as a rather full sounding amp with a nice kick in the bass and a fair bit of warmth with specific tubes like the EL34 ( mullards & Telefunkens) and kt88 . The 6l6gc tubes that Justin likes are a little more neutral .

This whole thing started as a quest to build a chain around the utopia & HD650 . The other amps i tried along the way include

Otomon 45 SET amplifier
KOTL - It's a diy OTL amp based on PMillet designs
EC ZDS
Lyrita audio 2A3 SET amplifier
Auris Nirvana
Auris Headonia
EC x DROP ZDT Jr
BHC crack ( Speedball)
A variety of chinese SS & tube amps

They are all fine amps but they all missed the mark by a fair bit. Though neither of my headphones in question are exactly hard to drive, they are quite amp picky.

This chain I linked in the beginning of this wall of text is the best I have heard for these two particular headphones. With the hd 650 there was perfect control in the bass ( mine are modded and sound close to the JAR 650 , IMO) , a lush and thick mid range with no treble weirdness. The sound stage went from a typical 3 blob to moderately spacious ( come on it's still a HD650, the mogwai ain't gonna change that) . The timbre was just perfect.

There was a lot of engagement and musicality that made it frankly difficult to care about all the little things in audio and life in general. The dynamics were off the charts and since i chose to go with the tube rectifier instead of a SS plug the mogwai was just OK when it came to speed

With the utopia it was just an aural orgasm, Bass was punchy, textured with amazing extension and a sense of speed that is eerily close to ESTAT levels. The bass wasn't muddy and it didn't bleed into mids.

The mids of the utopia are as close to perfection as I have ever heard in the hobby, it's liquid and transparent without being too forward like the HD650. The Fabled BE timbre of the utopia was just not present in the upper mids and treble on this chain, and i fully attribute this to the mogwai cos none of the other amps i tried/owned managed to do this. No biggie i know, but as mentioned earlier tone and timbre matter more to me than absolute resolution and ultimate detail.

A few other things to be noted with this amp is that it is very powerful and has a bit of a noise floor. With great power comes a slightly gray background. I have never needed to go past the 11 o'clock point on the pot even with the susvara and the HE6 ( 4 screw grill modded) . with the right tubes i think it is nearly 8W per channel.

The background noise goes away when using EL34 and a 6sl7 combo. The KT88 my favorites - do have a little bit of a noise floor

The sheer number of headphones the mogwai is capable of driving to potential is staggering and it makes this my “END GAME” ( god i hate that term ) amp.

There will be more headphones and dacs, but i think ill be sticking with the mogwai SE for a very long time. At Least until I hear something that knocks me head over heels like the mogwai did.

Other positives include the number of tubes that can be rolled and the fact that most of these tubes don't cost an arm and leg, total tube replacement is under a 100$ if you are patient enough to wait for a good deal.

The amp itself is a little expensive but I think its well worth the asking price.

I hope you guys enjoyed my ameteur attempt and verbalizing the virtues of what I consider one of the best amps. If you din't enjoy it, Please don't hold it against the mogwai .


Cheers and happy listenin